Printing device and method of making.



J. s. DUNCAN.

PRINTING DEVICE AND METHOD OF MAKING. APPLIOATION FILED MAE.23,1912.

1 ,048,4=59, Patented Dec. 24, 1912.

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. DUNCAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ADDRESSOGRAPHCOMPANY,

' OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PRINTING DEVICE AND METHOD OF MAKING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2 t, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Josnru S. Duncan, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful llnprovements in Printing Devices andMethods of Making, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to printing devices and'method of making thesame, and aims to produce from a sheet metal blank a printing device onwhich the printing characters will be stamped up in relief on one sideof the blank and will be located more closely together than it hasheretofore been possible to make them.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the followingdescription when considered in connection with the accompanying drawingsillustrating a printing device made in accordance withmy invention vandone set of dies employed in its formation.

Referring to the drawings E-Figur 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of aprinting device provided with a plurality of printing characters andshowingthe dies employed in forming the characters; Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional View taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig.3; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially 0n the line3--3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a-fragmentary longitudinal sectional view ofmy improved printing device, the scction eing taken between the lines ofprinting characters; Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of a punch anddie respectively employed in forming my improved printing device; andFig. 7 is a side view of the die shown in Fig. 6.

Prior to my present invention the printing characters on sheet metalprinting devices have been formed independently of each other bystamping them up directly to the required height from a metal blank bymeans of punches and dies, but the individ ual characters in each lineheretofore have been spaced some little distance apart. It is verydesirable in some classes of printing that the individual printingcharacters in the lines be located closely together and my presentinvention has for its p imary object the p'roduction of a printingdevice on which the individual printing characters will be arranged moreclosely together than it has heretofore been possible to form them.

From the drawings it will be observed that in carrying out my improvedmethod I employ a die 10 codperating with a punch 11 to-produce my novelprinting device having the printing characters arranged thereon veryclosely together. The punch 11 is provided at its operating end with asuitable elevated character-forming portion 12, the outer walls of whichtaper toward the body of the punch as indicated at 13 and merge at theirbases into a flat portion 15 which forms a flat shoulder or ledgesurrounding the charactcr-f0rming portion. The die 10 is provided on itsface with a depression or recess 16 conforming in shape to thechameter-forming portion 12 of the punch and adapted to codperatc.therewith to form the desired printing character. At the top and bottomof the character-forming depression 16 the walls of the die are extendedoutwardly as indicated at 17 to produce lips which retain the metal atthe top and bottom of the character beii g formed in its original planeas shown in' l ig. 3. The walls of the die at the sides of the characterforming depression however are removed or, in other words, dcprcssedrelatively to the end lips 17 as indicated by reference charac terlS, sothat the metal between the adjacent individual printing charactcrs on aprinting device is permitted to become distorted from its original planeand assume an elevated position relatively to the metal at the top andbottom of the character as shown in Fig. 2.

In the present instance I have shown, for purposes of illustrationmerely, a punch and die each adapted to produce the letter O and thecompleted characters are indicated on the drawings by reference numeral19. It will be obvious, however, that any desired letter,- figure orother character can be formed on a sheet metal blank by the use ofpunches and dies constructed as above described but bearing a characterforming portion of the desired shape and a corresponding depression.

In carrying out my im roved method a sheet-metal blank upon w ich theprinting characters are to be produced is fed between the unch and dieabove described,

the blank eing fed forward the requisite distance after the formation ofeach character. As the punch and die are forced together the printingcharacter is stamped up from the metal as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Duringthe stamping up operation the metal at the top and bottom of thecharacters being formed is held in its original plane by the lips 17 onthe die which press the metal against the ledge or shoulder 15 onthepunch. The side walls 18 of the die being shorter than the lips or ends1'? permit the metal at the sides of the character being formed to bedistorted by the punch from its original plane, the metal between theletters at the point indicated by reference character 20 being, as willbe observed from an in- .spection of Fig. 2, elevated relatively to themetal at the top and'bottom of the character. Since the metal could notbe readily stretched in both directions from a point intermediate theadjacent printing characters sufficiently to form both characters if themetal at this point were retained in its original plane, it will beobvious that by distorting the metal at this point or, in other words,raising it from its original plane as the printing characters are beingformed the tension upon the metal is considerably decreased with theresult that the characters may be formed very closely together withouttearing or unduly stretching the metal at the sides of the characters."Heretofore it has not been possible to stamp up printing characters ona metal blank closer together thaneight to the 111011 but bymy improvedmethod the characters may be formed nine or even ten to the inch so thatthe impressions made thereby are spaced similarly to and very closelyre- I semble typewritten matter.-

It is believed that my invention will be understood from the foregoingwithout further description and it will be manifest to those skilled inthe art that the invention is capable of considerable variation withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the material advantagesthereof.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a printing device, which consists in punchina sheet metal blank from the back thereo to form a printing characterprojecting at the front of theblank and by the same punching actdisplacing the metal of the blank at the side of and contiguous to thecharacter toward the front of the blank.

2. The method of producing a printing device which consists in punchinga sheet metal blank from the back thereof to form a printing characterprojecting at the front of the blank, displacing the metal at the sideof and contiguous to the character from the plane of the blank, andholding the metal of the blank in the plane of the blank at the top andbottom of the printing character.

3. The method of producing a printing printing character projecting atthe front of the blank and adjacent the first mentioned character, andfurther displacing the metal between the characters which was displacedin punching the first character to lie between the plane of the blankand the plane of the printing faces of the characters.

4. The method of producing a printing devicewhich consists in punchingasheet metal blank from the back thereof to form a printing characterprojecting at the front of the blank, and by the same punching actdisplacing the metal of the blank at opposite sides of and contiguous tothe character toward the front of the-blank.

5. A-printing device comprising a sheet metal blank having a printingcharacter punched up from the back thereof and prbjecting at the frontof the blank, the metal at opposite sides of the character andcontiguous thereto being displaced from the plane of that portion of theblank from which the character is struck up and lying between saidportion of the blank and the 1 plane of the printing face of thecharacter. 6. A sheet-metal printing device having a plurality of linesof printing characters of the device extending along and beneath theline of characters.

7. A printing device comprising a sheet metal blank having a printingcharacter stamped up from the back thereof and projecting atthe front ofthe blank, the metal at opposite sides of the character and contiguousthereto being displaced from the plane of the blank and lying betweenthe plane of the blank and the plane of the printing face of thecharacter, and the metal at the top and bottom of the printing characterbeing in the plane of the blank.

8. A printing device comprising a sheet metal blank having a line ofprinting char-' acters stamped up from the back thereof and projectingat the front. of the blank, the metal between adjacent characters beingdisplaced from the plane of that portion of the blank from which theline of printing characters is struck up and lying between said portionof the blank and the plane of the printing faces of the printingcharacters.

9. A printing device comprising a sheet metal blank having a line ofprinting characters punched up from the back thereof bottom of eachcharacter being in the plane and prgjecting at the front of the blank,the of the blank.

metal etween the adjacent characters bein 1 1 3 1 T T displaced from theplane of the blank nna 'TTObLPII DUNCAN lving between the plane of theblank and the WVitnesses:

WM. F. BELT,

plane of the printing faces of the printing IRA J. WILSON.

characters, and the metal at the top and Copies 01' this patent may beobtained for flve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.Washington, D. 0.

